Clearview's Marissa Moskalow named South Jersey Times Girls Swimmer of the Year

She squinted in thought and looked to the sky for a possible explanation. The Clearview Regional High School standout swimmer finally started to answer but then just as quickly froze. And smiled and shook her head. She still couldn’t find the reply.

The question: What were your goals for the season?

Easy, right? Well, not for Moskalow.

It was difficult because technically she didn’t set any goals. Not specific ones, anyway.

“My goal was to improve as much as I could,” said Moskalow, who was named the South Jersey Times Girls Swimmer of the Year. “I have been training with my club coach and summer coach and coming into high school season with coach (Steve) Skinner and it’s been a great year. But my only goal was to go as fast as I could. That is how I approached the whole season.”

However, it wasn’t always how she approached the whole season. And she never had a problem answering the question of what were her goals for the season, either.

When she was younger, specific goals enveloped her whole existence in the water. She fixated on swimming certain times or finishing in a certain place — sometimes to the point where it affected her negatively.

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“I have definitely been one to put a lot of pressure on myself my entire swimming career,” Moskalow said. “I try not to over-think races and meets by putting pressure on myself with times and places. I just try and beat the person next to me and swim as fast as I can.

“As long as I know I gave it my best shot, I don’t get disappointed. It is something that I have learned throughout my years as a swimmer.”

Don’t mistake it as a lack of intensity. Without the burden of attaining a personal best time every time the starter buzzer goes off or touching the wall first, Moskalow keeps her focus on swimming as hard and as fast as she can.

Her new approach of relieving pressure has actually helped her achieve more success.

The junior capped her season with a third-place finish in the 200 IM and a fourth place in the breaststroke at the Meet of Champions. She also helped the Pioneers’ 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams break school records at the prestigious event.

“Marissa humbly steps up and rises to the occasion,” Skinner said. “She is a true competitor. She works hard. She is very naturally gifted but does put the time in. If she sees a flaw she works at it.”

And one of the flaws she noticed was placing too much pressure on herself to succeed every time she hit the water. So she changed her approach over the last couple years and it has helped her develop into one of the best swimmers in New Jersey.

Her performance at the MOC was a prime example. In the finals of the IM on Sunday, she touched the wall in 2:06.14. A day earlier in the preliminaries, Moskalow had a time of 2:06.97.

However, it was the opposite in the breaststroke. She posted a 1:05.20 in the finals after swimming a 1:04.79 on the Saturday portion. Although she was slower in the finals and could have gained at least a spot by matching her prelim time, Moskalow had a giant smile following the race.

“It’s been an ongoing process. I am a really competitive person, especially when I was younger,” Moskalow said. “I would get upset when I didn’t do my best time or performance. But my head coaches and teammates and just through maturity I have learned that it’s not possible to always swim your best time every race — as much as I would love to do that.

“I have progressively gotten better with that. And now it works for me and helped me to get where I am today.”

Her coach has seen her transition over the years.

“She has come leaps and bounds since her freshman year with dealing with pressure,” Skinner said. “Just the way she approaches a race. She approaches it, she visualizes her swim, where she wants to finish and she has a goal as she moves through the water. I think she accepts when someone else has a better time than her. She also knows that any given race there will be days when the mind wants to perform differently than what your body wants — and there will be another day to race.”

She has another year of high school left. She also isn’t far away from capturing a state individual title — or two — before graduating.

But the new Moskalow isn’t worried about any of that. She is just looking forward to playing the role of senior leader and probably captain, continuing the success her team enjoyed this season — the Pioneers reached the South A final for the first time in school history — and improving as a swimmer.

“I am so excited for my senior year,” Moskalow said. “I am so proud of what the team accomplished this year and am excited for what we can do and what I can do next year. I just want to improve as much as we can as a team and the same for myself.”